Comparing In Search of Our Mothers' Gardens and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Maya Angelou is a leading literary voice of the African-American community. She writes of the triumph of the human spirit over hardship and adversity. “Her style captures the ca-dences and aspirations of African American women whose strength she celebrates.” (Library of Chattanooga State, n. d.) Maya has paved the way for children who has had a damaged

They encourage the reader to see hope in the midst of sadness. Instead of trying to elicit a particular emotional response, Angelou invites her audience to share in her thoughts and feelings. For instance, having given an account of the rape, she writes, "I thought I had died--I woke up in a white-walled world, and it had to be heaven." The reader feels a connection with her pain, yet realizes redemption lies close at hand. Whereas Walker tells how she was confronted by her parents, Angelou explains,” she [mother] picked me up in her arms and the terror abated for a while." There is no impression of combativeness. There is only tenderness and care. Once again, she invites the reader in. Walker wants the reader to feel for her; Angelou wants her audience to feel with her. They achieve their objectives by directing the reader 's attention to specific emotions.

In an excerpt from her novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings called “Graduation,” Maya Angelou narrates the anticipation surrounding graduation in her small town of Stamps, Alabama. Angelou effectively contrives noteworthy differences between paragraphs 1 through 5 and 6 through 10 through the use of emotional and descriptive diction, powerfully bold comparisons, and a shift in perspective in order to instill pride and dignity in Angelou and her race despite the era’s highlighted social injustices which she endures.

Maya Angelou’s essay is describing her eighth grade graduation and the racism that was prominent at that time. With an explanation of the roles at graduation, she begins excited for her own graduation but as she listens to the speech of a white man, she becomes angered with the racial discrimination that was hinted at in his speech. In the midst of her anger, she regained hope from the black valedictorian’s speech and proudly stated that her race still continued to live happily even with the limited opportunities that were given.

When Alice Walker was eight years old, her brother accidentally shot her with a BB gun in her right eye. She lost the use of that eye and was left with scar tissue that was noticeable. Other kids would ridicule and laugh at her. This caused her to become very withdrawn. She became more of an observer and she started composing poetry in her head. She was afraid to put them on paper because she thought that her siblings would find her writings and tear them up.

Alice Walker and Maya Angelou are both African American females whose literate has influenced both many African Americans .Beauty When The Other Dancer Is The Self by Alice Walker is a narrative that highlights the key events from the life of the author. These events had a great impact on her. She transitioned from a proud young girl to a girl with low self-esteem person and how she coped with life. Graduation by Maya Angelou is an essay which the authors share with the audience about her eighth-grade graduation. She shares the steps and preparations that were taken for the ceremony. Unfortunately for Maya, her day went on a festive occasion to a sad day because of a speech presented by a guest speaker. Much like Alice Walkers Beauty When The Other Dancer Is the Self and Maya Angelou's Graduation the main characters are both young African American female living in the Southern States during the Segregation era. A time when African American and other people of color were oppressed by Caucasians.While the two essay is about two separate people who experience different challenges and experiences in their life both essays are very similar.

Alice Walker was the youngest of eight of a sharecropper. Not only did she grow up poor but she ended up being shy and timid, due to an incident that took place. She accidently got shot with a BB gun in her eye by her brother. Around that time she found solace in reading and writing poetry. Due to the unfortunate event she faced as a child, Walker was awarded a scholarship for college. She first began at Spelman College in Atlanta after graduating from her high school as the Valedictorian or her class. Walker the transferred to Sarah Lawrence in New York. The year that she graduated her first short story was published. From there, her success only flourished.

Thomas Jefferson once said, “Blacks could deliver themselves of spontaneous bursts of emotion, but were incapable of the intellect and concentration that great art requires.” (Cook, Tatum, 2010). It is widely believed that people of African descent could not read poetry or understand art, let alone create them. Both Alice Walker and Patricia Smith are two great examples of how far, not only as African American have come, but also as African American Women. Whether white, black, or brown we all want to fit in. That is why I chose Alice Walker’s short story, “The Welcome Table” and Patricia Smith’s poem, “What It’s Like to Be a Black Girl.” They both have similar, yet different of setting a tone, imagery, symbolism, and point of views of how

Alice Walker usually puts herself into characters that she writes about in her stories. However, you don’t understand this unless you know about her. Staring with this let us find out about who she is and where she came from. When recounting the life of Alice Walker, you find out that she was born to sharecroppers in Eatonton, Georgia in 1944 and was the baby of eight children. She lost one of her eyes when her brother shot her with a BB gun by accident. She was valedictorian of her class in high school and with that and receiving a scholarship; she went to Spelman, a college for black women, in Atlanta. She then transferred to Sarah Lawrence College in New York and during her time there went Africa as an exchange

Alice Walker, famed author and civil rights activist, was born to sharecropper parents in Eatonville, Georgia in February of 1944. Alice was the youngest daughter of sharecroppers; her mother also worked as a maid to help support her eight children. At a young age, an incident with her older brothers seriously damaged her eye when her brother Curtis accidentally shot Walker in the eye with a BB gun while playing “cowboys and Indians.” To avoid getting into trouble with their parents, Walker’s frightened brothers made up a story and convinced naive Alice to go along with it. The result was Walker lost the sight in her right eye. A disfiguring white scar developed. Walker became very self-conscious of this mark. This incident molded her early years and caused her to largely withdraw from the world around her. She felt ugly and disfigured, so she found solace in reading and writing poetry. This incident and her modest family roots contributed to her writing style exposed in later works.

Maya Angelou uses background information to manipulate the reader’s emotions. She does this first by telling the story in chronological order. Once the order is established, the reader starts to understand where Angelou is coming from. The other way that she manipulates emotions is by slowly changing the tone throughout the novel. When these factors are put together, they are meant to create sympathy from the reader. A sense of sadness that the black community faced during the 1940’s.

Religion is the backbone for stability when things are going wrong. It can be used as comfort for the future and can be a moral way of living life. In the novel “I know why the caged bird sings” by Maya Angelou, in this autobiography, it reveals the childhood or Maya Angelou and the hardships of growing up. She was abandoned by her parents when they had sent here and her brother to stamps Arkansas to live with their grandmother. From the beginning to end we see a growth in her character and this essay will explain how religion help shaped her into the person she became. In this paper, you will see the various places where religion is brought up and explained the significance of the event to the growth of Maya Angelou and her environment. This

Alice Walker was born February 9, 1944, in Eaton Georgia. The youngest of eight, Walker was born into a family of sharecroppers and experienced years of poverty. At four years old, young walker enrolled in first grade and by eight, began exploring and cultivating her writing skills. The same year, Walker suffered a serious injury after taking a BB pellet to the eye while playing with her brothers. The injury resulted in white scar tissue around the eye, which caused the child’s anxiety and low self-esteem. Walker became a recluse, retreating to the confines of her home and mind, and found solace in literature. After reconstructive surgery, Walker regained self-esteem. Upon her reemergence to the world, the teen was greeted with

Born in provincial Eatonton, Georgia, on February 9, 1944, Alice Walker is one of the most adored African-American writers working today. Alice is one of the youngest children out of her eight siblings. At the time where African-American were belittled by socioeconomic, her mother worked as a maid in order to help support the family’s eight children. Furthermore, at the time Alice was 8 eight years old, she suffered a severe incident regarding with her being shot in the right eye with a BB pellet while playing with two of her brothers. Consequently, requiring surgery thus leaving a whitish scar tissue formed in her damaged eye. Prior to the incident, Walker was teased by her appearance and became self-conscious throughout her childhood. Living in the racially divided South, Walker attended segregated schools and was merited the highest accolade in high school being valedictorian of her class. With the financial support of scholarships, she was granted to attend Spelman College in Atlanta. However, received another scholarship thus shifting to Sarah Lawrence College in New York. While at Sarah Lawrence, Walker visited Africa as one of the chosen few young black students to attend the prestigious school as part of a study-abroad

was how Alice Walker grew up. She has written stories about her life, and stories that have had